Sweden halts rollout of AstraZeneca vaccine as precautionary measure; UK backs vaccine

After reports of serious blood clotting, Sweden on March 16 joined other European countries in halting the rollouts of AstraZeneca jabs. Sweden’s health agency announced that the country is pausing AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines as a precautionary measure. Nations including Germany, Italy, France Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Latvia have already suspended the use of vaccine amid safety concerns. 

AstraZeneca, on the other hand, has defended its coronavirus vaccine, saying that its analysis not only showed “no evidence of an increased risk” of blood clots in vaccine recipients but a lower number than in the general population. In a statement, AstraZeneca insisted that its vaccine was safe and added that the company’s safety data showed zero evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis in any defined age group, gender, batch or any in a particular country from the jab. 

EMA, WHO and UK back AstraZeneca 

The EMA has also clarified that there was “currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine...The vaccine's benefits continue to outweigh its risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while an investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing”. Additionally, the World Health Organization has backed the continued of the vaccine and said that of the millions of doses given out so far there was no clear evidence of an increased rate of blood clots. The WHO further added that the benefit of continuing to use AstraZeneca shot outweighed the risk. 

On Tuesday, British PM Boris Johnson also defended the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine saying that the jabs were “highly effective” in bringing down both disease and deaths. The British leader asserted that the shots are not harmful and were being used across the world. Writing in his op-ed in the British daily The Times, Johnson stressed that the vaccine was absolutely safe and “worked extremely well”.